1. Another “first ever”: A group of about two dozen birders gathered at the entrance to the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge at 7 a.m. Wednesday morning. They hoped to spot a bat falcon, a bird that isn't particularly rare in Mexico and Central America. But birder Peter Witt photographed it in late December, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shared those photos on Facebook this week. The bird has never been recorded in the United States before, and interest in this bat falcon developed quickly. The falcon failed to show Wednesday morning, but eleven hours later, an even larger group -- three or four dozen birders, with their binoculars, telescopes and cameras -- assembled outside the refuge. A little after 6 p.m. one birder yelled, "There he is!" (via Houston Chronicle)
2. The other recent “first ever” - oozing charisma: I have wanted to see a Steller’s Sea-Eagle for my whole life. This is not just any eagle, but one of the largest eagles in the world — twice the weight of a Bald Eagle, with a striking color pattern and massive yellow bill. They are rare, with a global population of less than 5,000, found along the remote coastline of the western North Pacific from Kamchatka to northern Japan. Until this year, only a few had ever been seen on this side of the Pacific Ocean, and only in western Alaska. When birders talk about “rare” birds, we generally mean birds that are rare in a region, and Steller’s Sea-Eagle is as rare as a bird can be in New England. It is also globally rare, and it oozes charisma. This bird scores an 11 out of 10 on the birders’ excitement scale. (via Boston Globe)
3. Never too late: It’s never too late to start learning birds... and you’ll never do it long enough to run out of things to learn. Of course, you don’t need to know a thing about birds to enjoy them. It’s entirely possible to just appreciate birds for the splash of color, song and general distraction. But the sight of a hovering hummingbird, a murmuration in an open field or a woodpecker banging its head against a tree often leads to questions — who are those birds? why would they do that? how do they do that? I’m hoping that regulars — old and new — will add things that they found helpful in their avian education. Once you learn your backyard sparrows, say, you’ll recognize when something is not the usual suspect. No bird is too common to watch — we can learn a lot from pigeons. If there’s a bird around, watch it. (via Daily Kos)
4. Absolutely critical work for Pacific migrants: As northeast China freezes with the onset of winter, cranes fly south to Poyang Lake, China’s largest freshwater wetland sanctuary, along with hundreds of thousands of migratory wildfowl. For birds that feed on tubers of submerged aquatic plants, such as the critically endangered Siberian Crane, the threatened and declining Swan Goose, and thousands of Tundra Swans, Poyang’s food-rich winter wetlands are key to their survival. However, dams along the Yangtze River and growing floods are disturbing the natural rise and fall of water levels that are needed for Poyang’s aquatic plants to thrive. Poorly regulated and expanding sand dredging in the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake is increasing turbulence in the water, limiting light reaching the aquatic plants that migratory birds rely on. (via NewSecurityBeat)
5. 120 million years ago: Approximately 80 miles from the westernmost reach of China's Great Wall, paleontologists found relics of an even more ancient world. Over the last two decades, teams of researchers unearthed more than 100 specimens of fossil birds that lived approximately 120 million years ago, during the time of the dinosaurs. However, many of these fossils have proved difficult to identify: they're incomplete and sometimes badly crushed. In a new paper published in the Journal of Systematics and Evolution, researchers examined six of these fossils and identified two new species. And as a fun side note, one of those new species had a movable bony appendage at the tip of its lower jaw that may have helped the bird root for food. (via Phys Org)
5. Another of the indispensable bird tools available from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: I like to think I’ve gotten smarter, but maybe I’ve just gotten lazier. I’ve answered a lot of questions from readers about bird feeders over the years, often after doing time-consuming research. Nowadays I just go to feederwatch.org. Project FeederWatch is another of the indispensable birding tools available from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. At its core, Project FeederWatch is a citizen-science initiative that enables backyard birders to contribute their individual winter bird observations to a collective database. Scientists then use the data to track the movement of birds across the entire continent. (via Bangor Daily News)
6. And speaking of the Cornell Lab: John Fitzpatrick *78 believes in flying high. As director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, he was guided by a six-word motto: Do not be afraid to fail. Between 1995 and 2021, he transformed this regional research center into a world-class institute for conservation, evolutionary biology, public outreach, and citizen science. “An ornithological giant” is how Judith Scarl, executive director of the American Ornithological Society, describes Fitzpatrick. “He’s one of the best respected and most well-known ornithologists of our time. His leadership helped foster deep connections to birds and birdwatching throughout the U.S. and beyond,” she says. (via Princeton Alumni Weekly)
7. Race of life and death: To eat or get eaten. It describes the evolutionary race of snakes versus the mammals and birds that prey on these snakes. Muzaffar Ali Khan devoted his Ph.D. to investigating the molecular mechanisms play of the evolutionary arms race, and has his promotion 16 February. What makes mammals and birds successful in their snake hunting? "I grew up in Pakistan, a part of the world where some farmers keep peacocks. Peacocks are famous for their ability to attack and kill snakes," Khan says. "I wanted to know more about animals that are capable of killing dangerous snakes and know how they do it." Under the supervision of Michael Richardson at the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL), Khan analyzed the molecular resistance against cobra venom and found considerable differences in resistance between animals groups. (via Phys Org)
8. Parrots, songbirds and hummingbirds all learn new vocalizations. The calls and songs of some species in these groups appear to have even more in common with human language, such as conveying information intentionally and using simple forms of some of the elements of human language such as phonology, semantics and syntax. And the similarities run deeper, including analogous brain structures that are not shared by species without vocal learning. These parallels have motivated an explosion of research in recent decades, says ethologist Julia Hyland Bruno of Columbia University, who studies social aspects of song learning in zebra finches. “Lots of people have made analogies between language and birdsong,” she says. (via Knowable Magazine)
9. More on this concerning study: The U.S. government removed bald eagles from the Endangered Species list in 2007, but new research suggests their population growth is held back by high incidence of lead poisoning. Across North America, bald eagle population growth rates are being suppressed by 3.8% because of lead exposure. Continentwide, golden eagles’ population growth, too, is being stunted by almost 1%. “When you look at lead levels in bone, these birds are getting exposed repeatedly to lead over their lives,” said Todd Katzner, a supervisory research wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and the study’s principal investigator. The effects of lead, which scientists believe eagles consume as they scavenge the remains of animals shot with lead ammunition that fragments within their bodies, can be deadly for all birds, including eagles. (via The Wall Street Journal)
10. When it comes to bird collisions, every little bit helps: Chicago may be known for its skyscrapers and deep-dish pizza, but the Windy City also sits on one of North America’s major bird migratory routes, making it a great spot for bird watchers, too. One of those spots lies on the far southeast side of the city, where a new building celebrates the history and ecology of the region and educates visitors about its wildlife. Located next to Lake Calumet, the Ford Calumet Environmental Center was built for people, but also for the 200 bird species that live nearby, and the millions of birds that fly over the region during migration season. The center sports an opaque facade with recessed windows that birds can’t fly into, minimal lighting that could be confusing for birds, and clever window shutters that open upward to block views of the glass windows from above. (via Fast Company)
11. And finally, some delightful photos: Capturing a crisp image of a bird in flight, two mates lovingly preening each other, or an intense predator-prey interaction are coveted shots for any photographer. However, photographing birds with native plants—not just any plant—offers an exciting and captivating challenge. Launched in 2019, the Plants for Birds category of the Audubon Photography Awards aims to put just as much emphasis on the flora as the fauna in each shot—and the entries have only gotten better each year. Although the gallery of photos below didn't snag any prizes—check out the winners here and the Top 100 here—they won our hearts through the dazzling combination of birds and the native plants that support them. (via Audubon)
Bird Photo of the Week
Photo by Hap Ellis, Loggerhead Shrike.
Bird Videos of the Week
By BirdCaribbean, “Love Languages of Birds”.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Great Horned Owl Highlights.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - American Kestrels.